WikiLeaks: Cuba banned Sicko for depicting 'mythical' healthcare system

[Big Don]

WikiLeaks: Cuba banned Sicko for depicting 'mythical' healthcare system

Authorities feared footage of gleaming hospital in Michael Moore's Oscar-nominated film would provoke a popular backlash

• Amelia Hill
• guardian.co.uk, Friday 17 December 2010 21.30 GMT EXCERPT: A WikiLeaks cable reveals that when Michael Moore's film was shown to Cuban doctors, they were 'disturbed at the blatant misrepresentation of healthcare in Cuba'. Photograph: Max Whittaker/Reuters Cuba banned Michael Moore's 2007 documentary, Sicko, because it painted such a "mythically" favourable picture of Cuba's healthcare system that the authorities feared it could lead to a "popular backlash", according to US diplomats in Havana.
  
  
  
  The revelation, contained in a confidential US embassy cable released by WikiLeaks , is surprising, given that the film attempted to discredit the US healthcare system by highlighting what it claimed was the excellence of the Cuban system.
  But the memo reveals that when the film was shown to a group of Cuban doctors, some became so "disturbed at the blatant misrepresentation of healthcare in Cuba that they left the room".
  Castro's government apparently went on to ban the film because, the leaked cable claims, it "knows the film is a myth and does not want to risk a popular backlash by showing to Cubans facilities that are clearly not available to the vast majority of them."
  Sicko investigated healthcare in the US by comparing the for-profit, non-universal US system with the non-profit universal health care systems of other countries, including Cuba, France and the UK.
  It was nominated for an Oscar for best documentary feature but was also castigated for being naive and tendentious.
  The cable comes from the United States Interests Section in Havana (USINT) – staffed by US foreign service personnel and local staff employed by the department of state, the unit is formally a section of the Embassy of Switzerland, although it operates independently of the Swiss in virtually all but protocol respects.
  END EXCERPT
  What?! You mean Moore's "documentary" had less to do with facts and more to do with bashing America? You're joking...
  Gee, I bet he's really happy he helped bail out Assange now.
  
  

 

[billc]

I guess there is a silver lining to every act of treason.

 

[crushing]

I guess there is a silver lining to every act of treason.

What was the act of treason?

 

[billc]

The guy who stole the classified documents and gave them to wikileaks. They are providing aid and comfort to our enemies, hence, the treason.

 

[crushing]

The guy who stole the classified documents and gave them to wikileaks. They are providing aid and comfort to our enemies, hence, the treason.

You don't know his name? What aid and comfort? Which enemies?

The people that don't like Michael Moore seem to have found some aid and comfort with this particular "leak."

 

[Makalakumu]

Is it really news that Michael Moore may have exaggerated something? Really?

One of the clever things that Assange did is leak the cables to the MSM first and let the Alternative media have it second. Now, the MSM is in the process of defending why it cherry picked documents and chose not to report on all of the real explosive stuff like American contractors running pedophile prostitution rings. People are finding out the extent the MSM is controlled by the government because of this.

 

[Cryozombie]

Is it really news that Michael Moore may have exaggerated something? Really?

According to him and his army of worshippers, yes.

In the documentary "Michael Moore Hates America" both Moore and many of his supporters are shown on camera claiming all he states are true facts.

It was an interesting, if also somewhat biased, Documentary on Moore.

 

[Empty Hands]

The people that don't like Michael Moore seem to have found some aid and comfort with this particular "leak."

Indeed. This was the same outfit that also leaked the "ClimateGate" emails, which rocketed to the top of the climate change denial movement. There is a lot of overlap between those who loved the ClimateGate stuff and then wanted Assange jailed or assassinated once his targets included the US government.

I see little evidence that Wikileaks is aimed strictly or even mostly at the US. They have released all kinds of random information concerning many countries and NGOs. You may not see what they release about, say, Thailand, because your national press doesn't give a damn about Thailand.

I don't know how someone can fear a tyrannical government and want transparency and accountability and then call for Julian Assange to be shot for treason. He's fighting your fight, bub. At least he is if you are honest about what your fight is.

 

[Big Don]

I for one, have never said Assange should be shot for treason...
He should be killed for espionage. He should be whacked in such a manner that will strike fear into the hearts of others, maybe his own personal airstrike...

 

[Makalakumu]

Indeed. This was the same outfit that also leaked the "ClimateGate" emails, which rocketed to the top of the climate change denial movement. There is a lot of overlap between those who loved the ClimateGate stuff and then wanted Assange jailed or assassinated once his targets included the US government.

I see little evidence that Wikileaks is aimed strictly or even mostly at the US. They have released all kinds of random information concerning many countries and NGOs. You may not see what they release about, say, Thailand, because your national press doesn't give a damn about Thailand.

I don't know how someone can fear a tyrannical government and want transparency and accountability and then call for Julian Assange to be shot for treason. He's fighting your fight, bub. At least he is if you are honest about what your fight is.

I think people are confused as to what they really believe. Think about the contradictions that some people attempt to mash into a political philosophy, it makes sense that they would be completely unable to rationalize all of this information on wikileaks. The "kill Assange" crowd is scared of their sacred cows getting mowed down.

Me, I like sacred hamburger. Our freedom and our democracy is lost in secrecy.